Falling into Wonderland Stayne Story
by ddspeed2000
Summary: Two sisters fall into wonderland, one landing at the red castle while the other lands in the white castle. Another separated story this is her side so I can't make any changes to her character/side. StayneXOC. I am no longer updating this story since no one is reading it, if in time the story gets longer I might come back and finish it but now its incomplete.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

The old inhabitants of this home had left far too much to the imagination. Each room was run down and dirty. The wallpaper peeled from the walls, the floors squeaked, and every time someone walked above, dust showered below. Several of the rooms held furniture, covered in white sheets and a layer of dust. The pots and pans in the kitchen had not been cleaned in years, many of them even beginning to rust.

It was from the hectic servants and cleaners that Ria fled. She had always felt more comfortable outside anyways. The gardens were vast, and just as untamed as inside. Here, however, it seemed more like a natural jungle than a decaying home. She wove her way through the overgrown maze, occasionally back tracking when she ran into an impassible wall. On a few occasions she found herself lost, but after some pushing and squeezing, she forced herself through the thick branches, and back into the yard, once meant for entertaining.

An old gazebo stood near the back of this area, the paint peeling and vines overgrowing part of the floor. A large spider had made it's home in the leaves, turning Ria away from exploring the small building.

Nearly an hour passed as she wandered from attraction to attraction. There were withered white roses mingled with red, which caught her attention for a few minutes, before spotting another trail she had not explored. It seemed to lead into a part of a forest that no one had even tried to tame. There was a small trail, but branches hung low and trees obscured much of the sunlight. As she followed the trail, however, she felt more drawn toward where it would lead. The maze and paths through the garden had let her dream of adventure. This itself _was_ an adventure.

When she finally found when the trees parted with just another tree, much wider and stooped than the others. It twisted oddly, it's roots forming humps in the grass. She circled around it, and was shocked to find a huge hole nestled between two of the roots. It was far too large to be a rabbit hole. Maybe a badger? The thought of such a viscous animal nearly sent her scurrying away, but she gathered her courage, took a deep breath, and edged closer. The pull that brought her here pulled again, and with a grin of excitement, she fell to her knees, looking into the gloom.

A pinprick of light appeared, so tiny Ria thought it might be her imagination. Then it grew. The size of a penny, of a ball, a bowl. Finally it grew to the size of the hole, and yet, she could not see what was down there. She frowned, leaned in closer...

The ground gave away. She screamed in shock as she began to plummet into the light. There was no noise, not even the rush of wind, though it grabbed at her light blonde hair. Her plain black and white dress whipped around her legs, tangling them up. Finally, after what seemed like whole minutes, the light began to dim, and shapes emerged. They looked like...

Bricks? Yes, rectangular, dirty, grimy bricks, blackened with smoke. Ria hardly had time to wonder what that would mean when she landed, sending up a cloud of soot and ash.

It took her a few seconds to realize she had landed in a fireplace. Luckily, it looked like it had been cold for days now. She crawled out, coughing as she inhaled the ash. Well, there went one of her favorite dresses. Unlike her sister, Ria adored her dresses, even if they were a little unusual.

"Hello?" she called hesitantly. Clearly she was not in her home anymore; none of the fireplaces held ash, just dust. A look outside a window hold her she was not underground. So... where was she?

Stayne walked through the halls of the castle glancing at all the dressed up people chatting to themselves. How he hated the fakeness of their over large costumes, he never could understand how naive the Queen could be at not seeing how fake these body parts were. It disgusted him how anyone with an over large body part could take part in this Castle and in the war without actually earning their parts. The Queen just wanted to be loved by all and was blinded by her arrogance's to not see what people thought of her. How he wanted to be King and show her how to really run this Castle and this land.

But alias, he could not. Not without marry that wrecked women and her extreme large head. That, he would not sink down and do. He will just have to find a new way to become King and avoid the Queen at all cost. He looked down the hall only to see the wrecked women herself walking towards and dove into a random room praying she had not seen him down the hall.

At the sound of someone entering the room, Ria stopped her exploration of it and spun around. Her eyes widened at the sight of a man. A very tall man. He didn't look very friendly, with a disfiguring scar running across one of his eyes. Instinctively, she backed away, only to walk into a small table holding a heart shaped vase. It teetered for a second, and then crashed to the ground, sending water and red roses splaying across the floor.

Stayne spun around when he heard the vase crash and growled under his breath."You fool what have you done!" He shouted at her and looked back at the door heard the Queen outside the door yelling his name. He ran over to the girl and hid in the closet while putting his hand over mouth as the Queen walked into the room.

After a few minutes the Queen left the room with her flowers in her hands. He signed in relief and pushed the girl out of the closet. "Who are you and how did you get in here?" He took a second to take in her appearance and saw that she was normal, no over large body part of any kind. It was almost a nice site to see someone normal.

She tried to scream when he grabbed her and covered her mouth, but eventually fell silent when another woman entered. She looked... disproportionate. Her head was far too large, and in comparison, the crown looked tiny.

"I'm Ria... I think I fell through the chimney." She knew it sounded ridiculous, but as far as she could tell, that is what happened. "Where am I? I don't recognize anything here." It couldn't possibly be anywhere in England; a quick glance out the window proved that.

Stayne blinked confused and began to get angry thinking she was making a joke as he looked over at the chimney then looked back at her dress and saw smudges of ash on it. "Um...Ria..you are in the Red Queens Castle in Underland. I am Stayne and you my dear are...normal." He says walking around her examining all of her. "No large head, nose, or ears. You are defiantly not from around here."

"You will have to meet the Queen but not now. I can't stand that foul women." He mumbled under his breath as he looked at the broken vase and walked back into the closet and took out another vase from the top that looked exactly like the first one and placed it where the original one was.

Involuntarily, Ria's hand had strayed up to her nose, though she covered the movement by pretending to rub it. She had always thought her nose was slightly to bony and large to make her beautiful. Hearing now that she was normally gave her a bit of a confidence boost.

"Queen?" She repeated, assuming it was the woman with the large head. "Calling your queen something like that is terrible. Men have been arrested for saying less." Then again, from the look on the woman's face, this man might not have been too far off with his description.

"People don't get arrested here in Underland, they get their head cut off." Stayne said bluntly as he rubbed his forehead roughly. "And besides you don't know this women or heard the idiot things she says."

He says opening the door and looking around the hallway to make sure it was empty. "Come I will find you a place to clean up while I avoid the Queen." He says grabbing her wrist and walking down the hallway. "I'd avoid touching anything else in this place."

The thought of anyone getting their head lopped off made Ria's face pale. "Perhaps I will stay away from her." She agreed as she hurried to keep up with Stayne. "You said Underland? Where is that?" She had not heard of any place like that in England, and any place that had a castle this large and preserved would have to be known.

Stayne looked out the window past the Castle wall at the dead empty fields that showed little life of anything." That." He said motioning his hand to the window. "The misery and woe that has come from the Red Queen taking- I mean gaining the crown which is rightfully hears and ruling all the land till it reaches the White Castle." He says walking into a wash room with a row of red sinks and a giant heart bath tub against the wall.

"But... where?" She asked, still not grasping that Underland was a whole world. "Where on the map is this located." Perhaps in Africa? It sure looked barren enough. She hardly even seemed to notice where they had arrived.

Stayne raised his eyebrow confused on how naive this girl was asking this questions about maps. "You can clean up in here i will send someone to retrieve you knew clothes if you wish, then we'll take you to see the Queen and see what she does with you. I suggest you not mention the size of her head if you'd like to keep your attached." He says walking out of the room and shutting the door behind and goes to fetch some new clothes.

She nodded, not bothering to bring up the map again. Once he was gone, she slipped into the tub and began scrubbing at the ash on her skin and in her hair. She would need new clothes, since her dress was also covered in ash, and ripped in a few spots. Once done, she got out and dried herself off, then waited for someone to come back with new clothes.

Stayne walked up to the wash room with another women who had giant fake ears and knocked on the door then let the women in the room with the new clothes. Smiled as she walked up to her holding out the clothes, "Everyone is to wear some sort of red so here is a red and white dress with hearts on it. I hope you like it." She says handing over the clothes then walking back out of the room.

Ria couldn't help but gape at the size of the woman's ears. They couldn't possibly be real. She even saw a tiny bit of the fake skin pealing where it connected to her real skin. But she just thanked the woman and waited until she was out of the room before putting on the dress.

It was far more constraining and heavy than any dress she owned. The designs were gaudy, and the colors hurt her eyes, but if she was going to meet the queen, then she might as well be wearing red. She left the room to find Stayne there.

"Will this be good enough to meet the Queen?" She asked. Her hair was still damp, which flattened the curls until they were hardly more than waves.

"Yes that will be fine but since you are the only normal person around here who does not wear a fake disguise to look beautiful we are going to have to make up something." He says putting his hand on his chin to think.

"I've got it, the Queen needs to see that someone is deformed in some way to make herself happy so...you will be blind. She think's you can't see how enormous her head is and you will get past with your head. Fair enough?"


	2. Chapter 2

**So I have decided to continue to upload this story since _KC DarkFire_ was nice enough to add this story to their story alerts. So atleast someone is somewhat interested in this story so thats good enough for me.**

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><p><strong>Chapter 2<strong>

She almost looked insulted, but nodded anyways. "Fine, but I am not sure how goo my acting skills are." Actually, she thought she was a pretty decent actor, but under pressure like this, she couldn't be too sure.

"Just don't look directly at her and whatever she asks you just say something nice about her. If people love her they get to keep their head, they insult her...you get the point." Stayne says pushing her down the hall way then walks up to two giant red doors and opens them apart.

He walks up to the Queen who was sitting in her chair with a pig under her feet. He kneels down in front of her and bows. "You majesty I found this blind girl wondering around the castle who wishes to stay here under your ruling."

Once the doors were open, Ria began her act. She walked into the room, her gaze straight ahead, but staring at nothing, as if vacant. She even stumbled once, as if there had been a rumple in the rug she had not been able to see. She only stopped walking when she bumped into Stayne, and then hastily fell to her knees too.

The Queen looked at the girl as she stumbled after Stayne then kneels next to him. "How did she get into my castle, where were the guards when this "blind girl" got into my castle." She asks looking over at her guards with a dark look. Stayne glanced over at Ria then stood up. "It was under my watch, I must have missed her slip in."

"I am sorry, My queen. If you would like me to leave, I will." Ria said quickly, acting as timid and pathetic as she could. "But I have nowhere else to go. No one wants to be associated with a blind girl."

The Queen stared at the girl then looked over at Stayne who nodded his head to Ria. "Fine. I will allow you to stay in my castle. Find this girl some eyes!" She yells as one of the guards runs in with a blue dodo bird with a string around its neck and shoves it in Ria's hand.

Stayne looks over at the bird and slams his palm to his forehead.

Ria was so shocked by not only the sight of a dodo bird, but also that they had given it to her for her 'eyes' that she nearly gave away her rues. Instead she patted all over the bird, as if trying to figure out what it was. Only when it squawked and bit her hand did she pull away with a cry of shock.

Stayne shook his head and stood up while pulling Ria up by her arm and smacking the bird in the head. "I will now show her to where she will be staying." He says bowing one more time then walking out of the large room and down the hall muttering to himself. "That women has a head full of rocks. "

She quickly gave the queen a messy bow.

"Oh I think it's full of more than that. Rocks couldn't fill that whole thing without making her fall over." Ria chuckled, glad that she could finally speak her mind. "But I think my acting was pretty good."

"Yes your acting was very good, good job the hardest part is over. Now the second hardest part is trying to avoid her at all times." Stayne says walking up to a random room and opened it peaking his head in to make sure it was empty.

"You can stay in this room with the uh...bird...'' He says looking at the dodo bird then rolled his eyes. "Or you can get rid of it i don't care."

"I think I will keep it." Ria said cheerfully. "Besides, if I happen to run into her, she'll be wondering why I do not have it." She looked into the room and nodded in acceptance. At least it was better than the room she had been given in their new home. This one had a window, a clean bed, and wallpaper that wasn't peeling off the wall.

"Or she'll forget who you are and ask why you stole her bird." Stayne said shoving the bird roughly into the room making it fall on the floor. "If you need anything just ask anyone with a giant fake body part and say i told you to ask them. They'll listen."

"Am I not allowed to ask you?" she asked and raised an eyebrow. "So far, you are the only one that knows I am not actually blind. I think I would rather keep it that way, and that means talking to as little people as possible."

"You are I suppose, I am not always here in the castle for many reasons including hiding from you know who and finding those who betrayed her as well." Stayne says crossing his arms then scratching his chin. "I could just take you with me to avoid talking to anyone. Do you know how to ride a horse?"

"Of course." Ria said, sounding offended. "I have been taught to ride since I could walk." Something her mother had not been too happy about, but her father was willing to agree to. "But you will have to explain to the queen why I am going with you."

"I wish you would stop giving me a reason to talk to that foul women." Stayne says in anger while grabbing her wrist in one hand and the leash connect to the bird and walked out of the room and down the hall dragging the bird behind him.

"well I'm sure talking to her now is better than pleading for your head if she thinks you're dragging me along for reasons she doesn't like." Ria pointed out coldly as she hurried to keep with with Stayne.

"If I could be so lucky." He mumbles before walking back into the big room while walking up to the Queen."My queen i am off for my routine of searching for your betrayers and i am taking this simple girl with me to uh...use a bait i guess since she can't see. It will make sense in the long run."

She looked up at him in confusion, but decided to wait until later to tell him just how stupid he sounded. However, the queen seemed to accept the absurd lie and waved them off.

"To use as bait before I can't see?" She hissed as they left the chamber. "No wonder you can't get away from her she probably sees through half of your lies."

"Watch yourself, that women is an idiot. I can say anything and she would believe me. I can't get away from her because she hangs on my arm like a child!." Stayne says snapping back at her. "If you'd like I can leave you here with her."

Ria flinched and fell silent for a few seconds. She had always hated it when her parents yelled at her; it seemed worse with Stayne. "No, I would prefer to come." She finally said. "I'm sorry, I won't assume anything."

Stayne sighed as he pushed open the front doors and walked over to the horse stable. "Look, don't trust that women i'm saying all this for your own good so you don't lose that pretty little head of yours." He says pulling out two black armored horses and gets up on one of them."Who's she?" The horse asks looking up at Stayne. "She looks...normal."

"You think my head is-" She broke off with a yelp when she heard the horse speak. At first she looked around, expecting to find a groom or someone that had spoken. When she saw no one, she looked up at Stayne. "The horse just spoke..." She said weakly. "How did it just speak?"

Stayne gave her a strange look while the horse shook its head side to side. "Never heard of a talking horse before girly?" The horse said taking a few steps towards her. " She's not from around here, she's not use to things around here." Stayne says turning the horse towards the entrance.

"Of course I'm not used to a talking horse." Ria said coldly. "Horses don't talk... I must be going insane. Jeeze, what did I eat?" she thought back to the lunch her family had had, and instantly blamed it on bad ham. "It's not going to bite me... right?"

Stayne gave her a strange look as he watched her argue with herself. "Look you'll be fine just get on the horse and ride it like you would a non talking horse.'' He says as he starts to ride towards the front gates.

Ria scowled at him, then hesitantly mounted the horse and nudged it into a trot. it seemed just as hesitant about her as she was about it, but hurried to catch up with Stayne anyways.

Stayne trotted out of the gate and across the brick bridge into the waste land. He glanced back at Ria making sure she was still following behind him then looked forward at the dead broken trees in the vast land.

"What happened to this land?" Ria asked, now that she could get a good look at it. It looked like fire and plague had ravaged everything. "How do you survive?"

Stayne glanced over at her then took a deep breath while looking forward. "When the war began between the red and the white queens, anything that got in the middle was affect by the outcome. Houses were burnt down, the forest turned to ash. I was one of the stronger one to survive the war with the white queen and her army."


	3. Chapter 3

****This chapter is dedicated to PrincessofSea who was so nice to favorite and review my story. It might take awhile to update next because the next chapter is no where long enough to be uploaded so when I get the time to make it longer I will update as soon as I can.****

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><p><strong>Chapter 3<strong>

"It sounds like you hate the red queen. Is the white queen so much worse that you had to fight her?" The thought made Ria pale. The red queen had seemed bad; she couldn't imagine if someone worse had taken the throne.

Stayne glanced back at her then huffed under his breath while looking forward. "War is complicated; you wouldn't understand the details of what's happen to this land." He says going up to a lake and looking around at all sides.

"Try me." She said firmly and raised her chin. "I may know a thing or two about war. I am not a complete illiterate." In fact, she found books on war very fascinating.

Stayne opened his mouth to say something till a dodo bird runs out of a bush across the water and down the dirt road. "Try to keep up." He says going around the water and down the dirt path after the dodo bird.

Ria nodded and spurred her horse on, completely forgetting that it could talk, and probably knew exactly what to do without her guiding it.

Stayne reached behind him and pulled out 2 balls that were connected together by a rope and threw it at the dodo bird catching it around its legs making it fall into the ground. Stayne rode up next to it the bird then jumped off and threw it over his shoulder.

"What are you going to do with it?" Ria asked as she watched Stayne pick the poor bird up. She could only assume they would eat it. But then, it seemed as if the animals here had far more intelligence than back in her world. Eating one felt... wrong.

Stayne looked back at her as he tied the bird to the back of his horse then got back onto his horse. "The queen while find something stupid for him to do like carry her bag or something idiotic like that." He says turning the horse around and stops next to her."Don't worry i wouldn't eat this disgusting thing if it saved my life."

Ria frowned in confusion as she tried to pick through his words. "You make it sound like eating it would be a good thing." She said slowly. "And why don't you just leave it, if you are so disgusted by what the Queen is doing?"

"Look you are young and naive, you wouldn't understand what goes on around here since you just mysteriously fell from the sky." Stayne snapped at her before ridding off back to the castle as he mumbled under his breath. This girl was starting to annoy him; she was always asking questions as if to annoy him on purpose.

"Well you're not helping, are you?" She snapped back at him and jerked her horse around to follow him. "You're right, I don't understand what goes on around here. That's why I'm asking questions. If you didn't want me around, then why did you protect me from the queen?"

"Without me, this world would be a lot worse than you think; you are not born in war or have war in your blood like I do. This is my job and I do what I can for my castle." He says glaring out in front of him. "If you would like to stay by the queen's side and become another one of her idiotic followers then be my guest, I won't save you from her."

"I know perfectly well what war is." Ria snapped and nudged her horse forward so that she could turn and cut him off. "I have lived through war. We just came out of one. So don't start thinking you're all noble because you are fighting."

Stayne growled under his breath as he gave her a dark look for cutting him of and standing up to him. "You may have lived through a war but you were not on the battle field like I am. You did not fight along your people in the war. That is why I am noble because I have." He says walking around her.

Ria laughed bitterly and shook her head. "You are noble because you kill people?" She gave him a cold look, and then turned her horse so that she was walking away from Stayne, and away from the Red Queen. "Have fun in your war. I'm going to try and find my way home."

"Really? You think you can find your way home on your own in a land you have never been too? Well do take care and watch out for the Bandersnatch that is running around here off its leash. Do beware of its nasty claws and any infection you might get from the beast." Stayne says waving his hand back at her as he begins to walk away in the other direction.

Ria hesitated, realizing that he was right, but not willing to admit it. "And what will you tell that woman when you return without me?" She asked smugly. "She will not be pleased that you let me go. but if you want to risk her anger, then fine." she shrugged and nudged her horse to continue, away from the palace. The animal refused to move though, and with a muttered curse, Ria dismounted to walk instead.

Stayne's eye twitched for a second but held his ground. "Yes but when I tell her that you left to the White Queen, she will have men come after you and behead you like everyone else that left her ruling." He says looking over his shoulder at her. "Who will protect you then from her and her men, you will be like this creature tied up on a horse."

"Oh you would like that, wouldn't you?" She laughed and gave him a sly look. "And what happens when she finds out you just let me go? Wouldn't that be considered helping me?"

Stayne frowned knowing this girl had a point with that remark. "How about you get back on your damn horse or I tie you to the back of mine?" He says riding towards her, tired of playing this game with her.

"Let's see how badly you want me then." She smirked before nudging her horse into a slow run, away from Stayne but not too far that it would be hard for him to catch up.

Stayne flared in anger as he watched her begin to run away. "Women this is not a game!" he yelled at her debating with himself if he should go after her or let her run. "What is wrong with this girl!" He says running after her on the horse getting angrier by the minute.

Ria laughed playfully and glanced back at him. "Why not? I'm having fun. All you have to do is relax. Take that stick out of your back."

Stayne growled under his breath the closer he got to her and started to run faster till he was beside her then stopped right in front of her and hopped off the horse while pulling out more rope."You are going to regret playing games with me."

"You are the least fun person I have ever met." Ria scowled as she tried to nudge her horse away from Stayne. "Life is more fun when you let it be. Just relax for a bit."

Stayne gets off the horse with the rope on his shoulder while walking towards her. "You consider this fun? You are nothing more than a child trying to get attention." He says grabbing her arms and starts tying her wrist together.

"Ouch, be careful." Ria scowled and tried to jerk her hands away. Only when they were perfectly tied together did she realize that, no matter what, she would be dragged back to the castle, and would likely get in trouble for trying to escape.

"Maybe if you had listened to me instead of running off like a child! Then I wouldn't treat you like one of them." Stayne snaps while nodding his head to the tied up dodo bird still on the back of the horse. He picks her up bride style and sits her on his horse then slides behind her while grabbing the horses ropes.

She fell silent, looking down at her lap to keep her gaze away from Stayne. The ropes were already hurting her wrists, but she didn't dare to ask him to loosen them.

Stayne huffed under his breath as he starts regretting keeping her hidden in plain sight from the Queen. He shakes his head to himself as they ride back to the red castle and slides off his horse while grabbing her waist and setting her on her feet while throwing the dodo bird over his shoulder.

As soon as she was helped off the horse, Ria raised her bound hands to wipe away the tears from her eyes."All I want to do is go home." She sighed and looked pleadingly up at Stayne. "Why can't you help me?"

"Help you? I don't know where you came from or how you even got here in the first place." Stayne says looking over at her and cutting the ropes off around her wrist. "If I had a clue on how to send you back, don't you think I would have done so already?" He says nudging her forward.

"You mean this has never happened before?" She asked with a frown, before her eyes widened and filled with tears again. "Oh god, I'm going to be stuck here until I die, aren't I?"

Stayne stopped walking and started to panic but didn't show it on the outside. The only woman he has had to dealt with that cried was Queen but those were fake tears, these were real. He drops the dodo bird on the ground and grabs her shoulders. "Hey now stop that! I mean it enough now!"

"I'm going to be stuck in this place with a person like you, and you think I will just stop crying?" she snapped and looked away from him. "You're the most cold hearted person I have met."

Stayne was stunned and somewhat hurt by that remark and took a step back while taking his hands off of her then gave a dark glare. "Fine be that way, if you ever get out of this castle you find your own way out on your own. I'm done with you." He says grabbing the dodo bird and her wrist squeezing it as he drags her into the castle.

She tried to pull away from his grip, but it was too tight, and she was forced to followed him back into the castle. She only just had time to wipe her eyes before they got inside.

The Red Queen sat in her chair with her feet up on the belly of a pig while picking her nails with a bored look on her face. When she heard the big doors open she looked up and saw Stayne walking in with the girl and a dodo bird and squealed with excitement. "Hello Stayne!"

She remembered at the last moment that she was supposed to be blind. So when the queen squealed, she jumped slightly and looked around quickly.

Stayne growled in anger and annoyance and had to bite his tongue from saying something that he would regret later. He walks up to her throne and drops the bird and the girl on the steps in front. "I brought you another betrayer and this naive girl. I want nothing to do with her anymore so she's your problem now."

Ria paled and looked pleadingly up at first Stayne, then the Queen, forgetting that she was supposed to be blind. She would have said something, but she couldn't think of anything that wouldn't angry the queen. Instead, she just dropped her head and closed her eyes, hoping that it would work out for the better.

"And what am I suppose to do with this girl? I've never seen her before." The Red queen says kicking the pig away then stands up."She's blind remember? I brought her in earlier?" Stayne says getting more annoyed while smacking his palm of his hand to his forehead. "I don't care what you do I tried."

Ria wanted to ask the queen for a way home, but doubted she knew anything either. So she remained quiet and began quivering, wishing they would make up their mind over what to do with her. She didn't even hear her sister or the guards enter the room.

Dani turns around and stops while looking around at the giant room then looked down and blinked when she saw her sister and growled now turning into protective mood. She looks up at the tall guy with the scar on his face and starts walking towards him now really wishing she had a weapon with her.

"She's blind?" The Queen asked confused as if she had never heard that before while looking up and watching a cat girl walk in with the guards. She blinked now really confused as Stayne looked up at her then turn around shocked at what he saw. "What on earth?" He says taking a few steps towards her.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

The guards watcher her, until once realized her intentions were not good. It stepped forward to block her path, spear held firmly in both hands and ready for use.

Ria noticed their looks and turned to see what had caught their attention. "Dani?" She breathed, recognizing her sister despite the cat ears and tail. Too late she realized her mistake. She shouldn't have been able to see her sister.

The Red Queen looked down at the girl on the floor as her face began to get red in anger. "You said she was blind, Stayne you lied to me!" She yells as Stayne looks over at her then down at Ria while the red Queen stomps her foot. "Throw both of them in the dungeon and cut off their heads tomorrow!" She yells louder.

"Off with my head? I don't think so fat head." Dani says pushing over one of the red guards while running past the other one towards her sister. She looks up at the tall man who was standing next to Ria deciding rather to take him on or just grab her sister and run like hell.

"What?" Ria gasped and spun around to stare at the red queen. "We haven't done anything! Why do you want to kill us?" She turned back to her sister when she pushed past the guard. "Wait, Dani, don't..." She trailed off, realizing it was too late. Now that her sister had insulted the queen and all but attacked a guard, there was no chance of bargaining.

The guard that Dani had pushed fall down, knocking over at least two more guards. The one downside to being a metal card was that their balance was terrible. Only one remained standing, who ran forward to spear its spear against Dani's back, silently warning her not to do anything.

Stayne looked over at the Red Queen now regretting not hiding Ria before coming back to the castle."My queen please reconsider her decision, these girls have not done anything." He says just as he hears Dani insult the queen. "Ok well this one hasn't done anything, let her live" He says motioning to Ria.

Dani came to a halt when she felt the spear end against her back. "Crap." She mumbled as more guards rush into the room while putting chains on her. "No! They both lose their heads! Do you want to lose yours as well!" The Red Queen yells at Stayne as her face turns a brighter red then her hair.

Ria paled as her last hope failed. She felt the chains clamp around her own wrists, and with a rough tug, one of the guards pulled her to her feet.

"Move." It said firmly, giving her a push toward the door. The one with its spear against Dani's back did the same until they were down in the dungeons and in a cell.

"Why did you have to say that?" Ria snapped when the guards were gone. "Don't you think before you speak?"

"How the hell was I suppose to know that A) she had an enormous head and B) she cuts off people's heads!" Dani yells back struggling in her chains.

"Its not like there is a sign that says "Hey big headed queen cuts off other people's heads." or something like that! Besides I have a plan."

She says looking up at her head."Chesh do you think you can find the keys or something to get these chains off?"

"She's the damn queen! What did you expect?" Ria shouted back, then screamed as Chesh suddenly appeared.

"No need to fight, girls." He said calmly as he began floating around them. "Before I leave, why don't you make up. If we get out of here shouting, you'll be caught within moments."

"Well there's a White Queen and she doesn't cut off people's head! She's nice from what I heard!" Dani says crossing her arms like a stubborn child.

"I'm not getting caught again; I'm getting the hell out of here. The Mad Hatter still owes me a hat." 

"And there's a war! If the White Queen is the good one, who do you think this one is? Of course she's going to be the evil one!"

"Now now girls, I suggest you lower your voices, or you might attract the guards." Chesh said gently, but it seemed they were ignoring him.

"That doesn't automatically mean she cuts off people's heads! She might just turn them into slaves or something, I don't know!" She yells acting more like a child as she stands up and walks over to the bars shaking them angrily.

"I wish Hatter was here..." she mumbles.

"Oh, so you don't care about being a slave, just as long as you can insult her once." Ria rolled her eyes and went to go sit down in the corner of the cell.

"Hatter would be of no help here." Chesh said softly as he floated between the bars. "I can go get the keys, but what is in it for me?"

"No but it would still be nice if he was here." Dani says looking up at Chesh. "What do you want gorgeous, we don't have anything at least not in this world. Which I still don't know where the hell we are."

She says letting out a defeated sigh. "So not part of the plan."

"You think I'm gorgeous?" Chesh grinned and began smoothing down his fur on his chest and head. "Well you certainly know how to flatter a cat." He swooped in close to her face and batted his eyes a few times before swinging away again.

"I'll find you those keys." And with that, he vanished from the cell.

"Of course I think your gorgeous have you looked in a mirror?" Dani asks with a slight chuckle then blushes slightly when he got in close to her face then blinked when he vanished.

"So who was the really tall, scary guy checkin' you out?" She asks turning to Ria.

"He wasn't checking me out." Ria scowled. "He hates me. He thinks I am a burden, and he was handing me off to the queen for her to deal with." She sighed and gave her sister an apologetic look.

"They would have chopped my head off, even if you didn't come and insult her. I'm just sorry that you got into this mess too."

"That's not what I saw from my end." Dani says with a shrug as she walks over to her and sits down next to her.

"Look you don't have to apologize it's not like you fell into this world on purpose. We both somehow got here by accident and now we just need to think of a plan to escape this place and find a way back. Which we will." she says patting her hand.

"But we don't even know where we are." She complained. "And now we're stuck in the dungeons of an insane queen who plans to have our heads chopped off... Dani, do you think we're dreaming?"

It wouldn't be the first time she had a dream where her life was in danger. But they were never this clear, and by this point she would have woken up.

"That doesn't mean that we give up and let that crazy bitch take our heads. We will get out of this just trust me." She says trying to reassure her.

"If this was a dream then I would have brought the Hatter with me and technology if we were couldn't we just think of being out of this place and be gone already? Like Magical keys appear in my hand." She says holding her hand out.

Ria stared at her sisters hands for a moment, and out of nowhere dropped a ring of keys, followed shortly by Chesh.

"Now, how do you plan on getting through the dozen guards at the top of the stairs?" He asked.

"I'm magic!" She yells with excitement then frowns when Chesh appears.

"Damn it I am going crazy." she says standing up while brushing her dress off then pulls Ria up. "Easy push them over like dominoes and run like hell." She says taking the keys over to the door and unlocking it.

"And the dogs?" Chesh asked as he floated through the door again. "Or that man who had an interest in this young lady here." He grinned at Ria.

"He has no interest in me." She scowled. "But he's right, Dani. There are more than just those guards here."

"Dogs? I didn't see any when I walked in." Dani says looking around then taps her finger on her chin. "Well maybe you could distract the dogs for us and lead Ria's boyfriend to the other end of the castle while we escape." She says looking at Chesh.

"Darling, I am invisible, not invincible." Chesh said bluntly, his smile turning into a frown. "I can smell the dogs, and they can smell me. Besides, they are smarter than you think."

"The animals talk." Ria nodded. "They are definitely smarter than the animals back home."

"But I will see what I can do. Young lady, did the tall man touch you at all?" Chesh asked Ria.

She blushed deeply and quickly shook her head. "I told you, nothing is going on between us."

"I mean, will he have your scent on him."

"Oh... Yes, maybe. He tied me up and made me ride in front of him on his horse."

"Good, good. Maybe this will work then."

Dani makes a face and throws her hands up in defeat as she listens to them rant back and forth.

"Wait, what's the big if he touches my sister which will end up with me cutting his hands off?" She says not catching on but still missing the Hatter more and more. 

"The dogs will not chase me forever. Not unless they catch your sister's scent. If I lead them toward the large man, then they might believe she is with him, and therefore distract him while you two escape." Chesh explained slowly.

"But if we stay here chatting all day, someone will notice their keys are gone. So let's get going." Ria insisted as she left the cell and began to walk in the direction they had come from.

"Ok ok lets go before we lose our heads." Dani says following behind her sister but stops and grabs a metal spear just in case.

"I'm stealing this." she says proudly while putting the keys in her pocket. You can never be too careful in this crazy place. "Guess we should have told the Hatter to wait outside for us." 

"I'm sure he will be waiting." Chesh said before vanishing again.

She girls walked down a long, narrow hallway, then turned a corner, nearly crashing into a pair of guards. Ria stumbled back in shock, but the guards seemed just as astonished that the two girls had gotten out.


	5. Chapter 5

**Like I said before, I don't know when I can upload ever chapter but when I think one if long enough I will upload.**

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><p><strong>Chapter 5<strong>

"Of course he will and we'll be ready." Dani says following behind her sister.

When Ria stumbles into a pair of guards Dani holds her spear sideways and runs into them pushing them over like before.

"It's time to put this plan to the test." She says grabbing Ria's hand and running down the hallway before the rest of the guards are alarmed.

She stumbled after her sister, trying to get her proper footing after nearly crashing into the guards.

She saw Chesh appear at the end of the hall, then vanish again moments before they got to him. They burst out of the dungeons and into a large but plain hallway.

At one end there was a wall with a small window, and the other end had a pair of guards marching around.

Dani came to a sliding stop when she almost ran into Chesh before he disappeared and looked around for an exit.

She looked over at all the guards that were at the one end and then looked over at the small window. "Hope you haven't gained any weight since we've been here." She says running over to the small window hoping it was big enough to fit through but not too high to jump from.

"But the castle is surrounded by a moat. And I could have sworn I saw heads floating in the water." Ria protested, but followed her sister toward the window anyway.

It ended up opening into a courtyard, with a deep, black well-like structure in the middle. Right beside it was a stone, with a sickening red stain to it. "It looks like we're on the second floor. It's either jump here or try our luck with the guards."

"Heads? What is wrong with this woman?" Dani says looking back at her shocked then runs up to the window and stops while looking down out the window.

"Well shit...this plan isn't going so well." She says looking around then back at the guards. "If too many guards don't pop up we can take them and try another hall way since the landing of the jump might do more bad then good."

"Sounds like as a good a plan as any." Ria nodded as she turned in the direction of the guards. "These guys aren't very good anyway. Worst guards I've ever seen."

"I know right? And extremely loud when they are running down a hallway."

Dani says turning around and runs towards the guards with her spear sideways and knocks down the two guards then looks down another hallway with more guards coming around the corner.

Ria giggled and followed her sister into the guards. As soon as they were down, she grabbed one of their spears and turned to ram it into the two more guards coming for them.

They wobbled for a second, and then toppled over. Once on their backs, they squirmed around like turtles.

"Look how cute they are when they struggle to get up." Dani says poking one of them with the end of her spear.

"If there weren't trying to cut our heads off I'd bring one home with us." She says running down the hall to a locked door trying to open it.

"Give anything for some back up." She says letting the door go as it opens from the other side with Stayne standing in the door way.

Ria laughed and glanced back at the guards. One of them had managed to roll onto his stomach, but his arms were too short to get up onto his feet.

"Kind of remind me of-" She broke off as soon as she saw Stayne, and with a yelp of shock, she grabbed Dani's arm to pull her away from him.

"Wait I'm here to help!" Stayne says rushing forward and steps in front of tem blocking their path.

"You don't want to go that way it leads outside to the beast." He says looking out a window and pointing down to a large dog house.

"Follow me and I will get you out of here."

Ria scowled up at him and refused to move. "How do we know we can trust you? You haven't been very willing to help us before." She replied bitterly.

"Yeah I still have to kick your ass for putting your hands on my sister." Dani says holding the spear to his chest.

"We don't have time to argue if you go down that hallway and run out that door you will be trapped between the beast outside and the guards. If I didn't want to help then why would I stop you from going out there?" He says looking down the hall as more guards increase in numbers.

"Maybe that's not the way out, and you're just leading us to the Queen." Ria spat. "Now answer my question; why do you want to help all of a sudden?"

Dani looked down at the hallway at the guards then back at them. "Guys we really don't have time to argue so if we can just go..."

"If I were leading you to the Queen then why would I keep you here in this hallway and instead of dragging you to her?" He says losing his patience.

"I don't know." Ria snapped, her gaze never leading Stayne. "I just find it hard to trust you now."

Finally she glanced at the guards. "Fine, lead the way. But the second you do anything suspicious, Dani and I will use these spears."

"Would you two stop acting like an old married couple!" Dani says holding her sear up as the guards come in closer on them.

"Fine." He says pushing them through the door then locks it from the inside and puts a blockage in front of the door to slow down the guards.

Ria scowled at Dani, but didn't have time to respond before she was pushed into the room.

"Are you going to answer my question?" She insisted once the door was locked and barricaded. "Why the hell did you change your mind?"

"Oh my god guys who cares let's go!" Dani says getting annoyed at their bickering running down the hallway not waiting for more guards to show up.

Stayne looks over at her and sighs."No point in telling you if we don't make it out of here." He says grabbing her hand and running after her sister.

She frowned in confusion and looked down at their hands, but didn't pull away. She ran beside him, struggling to keep up with his long strides.

Dani ran up to a long hallway that had two ways to chose from. "How the hell do we get out of this damn maze?" She says looking over at them then raises an eye brow at their hands then gives her sister a look.

"We'll go through the main room where the throne is, the Queen will be in there but she won't have any guards with her." He says going to the left.

"You _are_ leading us to the Queen!" Ria snapped and pulled her hand out of his. "Is that the only way to get out of here?"

"I'm leading to her because she is defenseless and can't do anything to you without her guards! The only way out is to go where the guards would least expects you to be and go out the front door. That is the only exit!" He yells at her while grabbing her hand again while dragging her down the hallway.

She reluctantly followed him, nearly stumbling at his fast pace. "Dani, you said there should be someone waiting for us outside, right?"

"Uh..." Dani thought for a second then shrugged when they ran into the throne room. "Maybe those are Chesh's words not mine. I hope the Hatter will be outside waiting but I can't promise anything."

Stayne looks over at the main doors and runs towards them before the Red Queen jumps in front of him. "What are you doing with MY prisoners!"

"Move it, air head!" Ria snapped and pointed her spear at the queen.

A moment later she thought she heard the sound of barking, and suddenly realized that Chesh was supposed to lead the dogs toward Stayne.

"We don't have time for this." Stayne says putting his hand on her face and pushing her over out of their way while turning towards the barking.

''What on earth are they doing at this part of the castle?"

"Oh shit were dogs part of our unplanned plan?" Dani says looking over then starts pushing them towards the door.

"We told Chesh to lead the dogs to Stayne, to distract both of them. I didn't think he would change his mind and try to help us." Ria sighed and rolled her eyes. "Maybe we can get some horses and outrun the dogs."

Stayne looked over at Ria and frowned slightly then pushed the main doors open and ran outside.

"I only have one horse that can take us now that the castle is on alert because of you two. Maybe I can get all three of us onto that horse long enough to out run the dogs." he says letting go of her hand and grabs the rein of his horse.

"Will they stay in the castle?" Ria asked as she looked over her shoulder.

For a moment she thought she had been Chesh, appearing for a second before poofing again, but he had been too far away for her to read his face.

"No they won't but they will give up after a certain distance and go back to the castle." Stayne says getting on the horse and holding his hand out to Ria.

"If we don't leave now it will be too late." he says as Dani sighs while looking around. "I guess he didn't come." She says walking up to the horse.

She took his offered and hand pulled herself up onto the horse behind him, and then reached a hand down for Dani.

"Maybe he's farther out." She suggested. "We're still pretty much in the castle yards."

"Yeah maybe." Dani says grabbing her hand and lifting herself behind her on the horse while hugging her from behind to avoid falling off."

Stayne looks back at them then takes off as the dogs follow behind them out of the court yards. "Who was supposed to be waiting for you two?"

"You called him Hatter, right?" Ria asked as she wrapped her arms around Stayne's waist to hold onto. "Will he have another horse, if he's waiting for us?"

"The Hatter?" Stayne asks in disbelief, "You are relying on him to help you escape, are you as mad as he is?" He says shocked.

"Hey you don't know him so shut up! He's really nice and if he said he was going to wait for us then he will...I hope." She mumbles the end to herself.

"If Dani trusts him, I trust him." Ria said stubbornly. "From what I've heard, he's more trustworthy than you are."

"Yeah so shut up you stupid tall giant you." Dani says defeated as she looks back at the dogs still following them.

"He is a mad man, he's not right in the head I wouldn't trust someone like that." Stayne says ignoring her comment.

"Hey, don't judge people." Ria scolded him. "At least he didn't tie Dani up and sling her over the saddle." She paused and glanced back at her sister. "He didn't, right?"

"Whoa he did what to you! Oh hell no, get me off this horse so I can kick your ass." Dani says switching to protective sister mode.

"She's not an animal you can tie up she's a person you cretin!" She says trying to punch him from around her sister.

"Stop it!" Ria insisted and blocked her sister's punch. "We don't have time for this. Once we're safe and away from the castle, and then beat him up as much as you want."

"Miss Dani." A voice said, and a second later Chesh appeared. "Hatter is close by, but he saw this man here and is unsure what to do."

Stayne looks back at her trying to doge her punches causing the horse to stir. "Would you control her she's like a child!" He yells back at them.

"I'll show you a child." Dani says then looks over at Chesh."Tell him to meet us and we'll deal with him later, we don't have time to stop now till we reach a safe place then we can kick his ass."


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

"At the village, then. Your friend should know where that is." Chesh said before vanishing again.

"The village? What is he talking about?"

Stayne glances over at the cat before he disappears and lets out a defeated sigh knowing when she learned the truth she may never trust a word he says again.

"There is a village not far from here, when we get there I will tell you everything you want to know about anything." he says riding faster.

She nodded in satisfaction and fell silent for the rest of the ride.

At the site of the ruined village, Hatter sat upon his grey horse, Dani's horse silently standing beside him. He looked around the village, his green eyes wide as he remembered the destruction.

Stayne walked up to the ruined village and looked down at his hands before sliding off the horse and helping the girls off the horse.

Dani looked up at the Hatter and would have been more excited to see him but the look on his face showed this was not the time or place to be happy.

She lifted her hand and gave him a small wave.

When Hatter noticed them, he gave a small smile and climbed off his horse.

"Hello, Miss Dani." He said politely. "Is this the blonde haired girl you were looking for?"

"I'm Ria." She introduced herself. "Dani and I are sisters. And you must be Hatter."

Dani gave a small smile as she walked up to him resisting the urge to hug him. "Uh yes she is thank you for helping me find her. I couldn't have done it without you or Chesh."

Stayne stood in the background and glanced around feeling more out of place then he did at the Red Castle.

"Thank you for accompanying my sister." Ria said softly. "Is there any chance you know how to get out of here?"

"I'm afraid not. I would assume the same way you came in."

"I fell through a chimney... Well, I thought it was a rabbit hole..."

Dani just stood there smiling at him then looked down at her hands. If it wasn't for the Red Queen and her destruction, this would be a nice place to live.

"I'm sure anything is possible here in this place." she says twirling her fingers together.

"Maybe, maybe." Hatter nodded quickly and gave her a large smile. "But first can you tell me

what he is doing here?" His eyes flashed a yellow color when he looked at Stayne.

"He helped us escape. But I still don't know why." Ria rolled her eyes.

"He just helped us that all." Dani says walking up to him getting in front of him. "He's not going to do anything else to anyone." She says watching his eyes change.

"I couldn't let her chop of your head. It didn't feel right to me." Stayne says staring back at the Hatter.

"But letting her chop the heads off of others was perfectly fine?" Ria raised an eyebrow.

"And what are you planning on doing now? Going to go scurrying back to her and beg for her forgiveness?"

"Come, Miss Dani. We should leave this awful place." Hatter said softly and tried to lead her toward their horses.

"No! I'm not going back to that retched woman. I'll go somewhere else in this place but not back to her." Stayne says snapping back at her then clenches his fist to control his anger.

Dani looks back at her sister."Ria come on. We can go to the other castle and figure out how to get back home." She says moving towards Ria.

Ria flinched and stepped away from him. "Well... You might as well come with us then." She murmured. "After all, I still need a horse."

She walked back to the horse that Stayne had brought, and waited for him to remount.

Hatter's eyes widened, and for a moment he looked like he was about to protest.

"Ooh, a prisoner then." Chesh chuckled, appearing right in front of Hatter's face, as if meaning to cut the man off.

Stayne looked from her in shock to the other two then back at her.

"I don't think it's a wise decision to take me with you. You should take my horse and go before they decide to not help you at the white castle." He says holding the reins of his horse out to her.

"This won't end well for anyone." Dani says while grabbing the Hatters arm and pulling him over to his horse.

"And here I thought this place could not get any weirder." She says looking back at Stayne and her sister.

"But what about you?" Ria asked softly as she reluctantly took the reins. "Is there anywhere for you to go, other than back to the Red Queen?"

Now that it was clear that they were safe, and that Stayne had in fact helped them, she couldn't remain angry at him.

"Not a prisoner?" Chesh looked disappointed. "It looks like the young girl has taken a fancy to the tall man."

"I cannot imagine anyone fancying a man like him." Hatter pouted.

"I'll find some place to stay and hide out till you get home safely. If I stay with you they won't help you and right now getting you home is my main priority. I'm sure they are some broken buildings I can go where the Red Queen won't look for me." Stayne says shoving the rein into her hands.

Dani looked over at the Mad Hatter and frowned slightly then looked back at her sister thinking for a moment.

"But what happens if we need someone to fight off the red army? We could use you for that since you are a warrior yes?"

"I highly doubt Dani's friend will be of any help." Ria pointed out.

Hatter frowned, but didn't say anything.

"Come on, you're leaving the Red Queen. I consider you a good guy now."

"That's not what I meant..." Dani mumbles while looking at the Hatter and frowning more.  
>Stayne let out a defeated sigh knowing he wasn't going to win against this girl.<p>

"Fine I will go with you to make sure you get home safely." He says lifting her up onto the horse then gets on behind her.

"Great!" Ria said cheerfully. "I'm just happy that now I'm not tied up and slung across your saddle." She smirked and glanced back at Stayne.

Hatter was beginning to look uncomfortable, and with a nervous laugh, he turned his horse in the direction of the White Queen's castle.

Stayne grew a slight blush on his cheek then shook his head and looked over at the others.

"You lead the way Hatter." he said not believing that those words would ever come out of his mouth.

Dani looked over at her sister then look back over at the Hatter watching him move his horse.

"So wait what are we going to tell the White Queen when we walk into her castle with him?"

"We've got a prisoner." Hatter said cheerfully and smiled over at Dani.

"He's not a prisoner." Ria protested. "He's coming willingly... mostly."

"But we need a story, right?" Hatter pointed out, stilling looking happy.

"That's kind of disturbing how happy you are if you have a prisoner. I thought the good guys didn't like taking prisoners." Dani says walking up to his horse.

"The story will be I was banished from the Red castle for letting you two go, its not a lie and if you ask the Red Queen she'd agree." Stayne says moving the horse forward.

"Who said we are the good guys?" Hatter asked. "We are all guys... Or or girls, in your case. There is a bit of bad and good in all of us."

Ria frowned at the Hatter, then slowly nodded in agreement. "So he's been banished, not captured. Got that?"

She gave Hatter a look, but the man didn't seem to be listening to her.

"Well I mean you aren't cutting people's heads off and stuff ya know." Dani says then sighs in defeat knowing she wasn't going to get him to understand and hopped on his horse behind him and shook her head.

"Don't waste your breathe on him, he's mad in the head and doesn't seem to listen to reason. We'll just have to explain it to the White Queen when we see her. She isn't crazy like the rest of them." He says as the horse walks off.

"Hey, don't be rude." Ria scowled and hit Stayne in the arm. "He may be a little mentally challenged, but he still has feelings." She glanced over at Hatter, but he didn't seem to hear anything that had been said.

He was gazing up at the dead trees and stormy sky, a small smile on his lips

"Are you sure? I mean did you see how upset he got when you said I was not a prisoner and how happy he was when he thought I was? He has to be bipolar or something along those lines." He says shaking his head while glancing over at the Hatter.

Dani tilted her head while staring at the Mad Hatter then looked over at her sister and just shrugged her shoulders in defeat.


	7. Chapter 7

**Also everyone needs to go to this link -**

petitions/fanfiction-net-stop-the-destruction-of-fanfiction-net

**and sign this petition to stop the cyber attack thats going on this site, hopefully if we can get alot of people to sign it. There are other petitions on this site besides this one as well.**

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><p><strong>Chapter 7<strong>

"So?" Ria hissed. "No matter what is wrong with him, you shouldn't be rude. If you want to prove that you're a good guy, then you should be sympathetic to him."

"I am in the mood to make a hat." Hatter suddenly said as he gazed up at the branches of the dead trees.

Stayne rolled his eyes then sighed in defeat. "Fine! I'll be the bigger man and not be rude to him anymore but if he says something about me being a prisoner again it's out of my control."

Dani looked up at him while tilting her head to the side. "You can still make me a hat if you want too." She says behind him.

Ria smiled and nodded in agreement. "Alright. It looks like his attention is elsewhere anyway."

"A hat needs an occasion." Hatter said. He gave her a blank stare, and then suddenly grinned. "I feel like we will have a happy occasion soon enough."

"Or nowhere." He mumbles under his breath as the walk up to the white castle and stop in front of its giant white gates.

"Oh, um ok great because I'd really like a hat from you." Dani says looking at him then looks up at the white castle.

Ria gasped when she saw the white gates, her eyes widening in amazement. She had not gotten a proper look at the red castle, but already she knew that this place was much more regal and beautiful.

It actually felt like the home of a queen, not the prison that the red castle seemed like.

Hatter hardly seemed to notice when they arrived at the gates. The guards, though hesitant about the other three, recognized the Hatter and let the party through.

Stayne looked around uneasy at the castle looking at the walls and windows to see if anyone was watching them on the ground then glanced at the guards.

He didn't know what was going to happen to him when they met with the white queen but he knew deep down he was going to deserve his punishment.

Dani looked over at the guards and noticed that they weren't cards like at the red queens but they were chess pieces.

This place really was like out of a child's imagination with the games, the characters, the outfits.

Ria sensed Stayne's uneasiness, and offered him a comforting smile. "Don't worry; I'll make sure they don't do anything to you. After all, you saved Dani and me."

The guards moved in closer to the party, not saying a word. They kept their lanced angled down, ready to charge if anyone made a threatening move.

"The White Queen is very friendly." Hatter said with a smile, ignoring the guards. "I think she will simply adore you two." He looked at Dani and Ria, but kept his gaze off Stayne.

Stayne glanced back at her and tried to change his mood.

"You may see it like that but not everyone else will. And I do not blame them for it." He says as they walk up to the front doors and slide off the horse while holding his arms out to her.

Dani looked at the guards and started to get uneasy about how close they were getting. "Does everybody here have their own army of guards?" she says looking back at him.

Ria accepted his help off the horse, but she kept her gaze on the guards surrounding them. "If the White Queen is as kind as Hatter says, then I'm sure she will listen to your story."

"Only those that need protection get protectors." Hatter pointed out.

"Hatter! You've returned!" A soft female voice said in delight. The guards parted just enough to let a woman pass, her skin and hair a white color, while her eyebrows contrasted sharply.

Hatter grinned, and then bent his body in a ridged bow. "I have brought some guests with me."

"Oh..." The White Queen looked from Dani, to Ria and finally to Stayne. Her gaze rested on the tall man, her dark eyes going wide with shock.

"Yes, I see... Follow me." With that she turned and left the circle of guards, which closed up behind her to form an escort for the guests.

"Let's hope so." Stayne says letting her go as the White Queen walked up to the Hatter. He looked up at her then dropped his gaze at the look she gave him and followed behind the rest of the group.

Dani looked over at the White Queen in awe from how beautiful she was compared to the Red Queen. Dani looks over at Stayne then took a deep breath of confidence and followed behind the group of guards.

Ria followed the guards, but fell back to walk next to Dani. "Have you met this woman yet?" She whispered. "She seems nicer, but I don't trust her with Stayne."

"The White Queen is very nice." Hatter said before Dani could reply. "

"Yes, you've said that." Ria said coldly. "But that was toward you. How would she react to someone like Stayne?"

"We have never had someone like Stayne in the castle." Hatter said, and then seemed to wander off in his own thoughts.

Dani put her fingers up to stop him so she could reply but he just seemed to ramble.

"No I haven't met with this woman but if anything happens, for you, I'll have this guy back."

She says patting her sister's shoulder. "I'll make sure he gets a fair trial from this place if they do decide to punish him or whatever they do in this place; I hope she doesn't cut off people's heads too."

"No head chopping here." Hatter said cheerfully. "but we never get traitors here, so I don't know what the queen will do." All the while he smiled and looked around at the gardens.

"That's... Comforting." Ria muttered, then smiled at her sister. "Thank you."

The group entered the white castle and instantly turned into a large throne room, where the queen sat down and gestured for the guards to move away.

"Now, will you please introduce yourselves?" She said pleasantly.

"My name is Ria, and I came from London... But that might not mean anything to you..."

Dani put her hand on her neck and rubbed it at the thought of people chopping off other people's heads.

"Uh...I'm Dani, her sister, I too am from London, not sure how I got here." She says not really sure what to say to her.

Stayne stood up right at attention when it came to his turn. "Stayne is my name." Although she already knew who he was.

"Yes, of course." The queen said coldly and stared at Stayne. "What are you doing here? And Hatter, why are you with them?"

"Miss Dani wished to save her sister." Hatter replied. "It worked." He added with a grin.

"Please, your highness, Stayne helped Dani and I escape from the red castle. If it wasn't for him, we would probably be waiting for our heads to be chopped off."

"Yes, my sister does have an unusual addiction to chopping off heads." The White Queen muttered.

"Nobody is perfect; everybody has a good and a bad side and deserves a second chance." Dani says stepping forward.

"If he was so evil, then why is he risking death to help two strangers that he has never met before?" She says trying to make a valid point.

"The fire warms the stranger, but will just as easily kill them." The queen said softly.

"A fire does not have feelings though." Ria blurted out.

Hatter's eyes widened and gave Stayne a questioning look.

"This was obviously a mistake to come here, we should just go." Dani says pulling at Stayne's arm.

"No, the queen is right." He says pulling away from her.

"The red queen let my sister in on a lie; she won't let you in on the truth. Do you not see how backwards that is?" Dani says.

"Wait." The Queen said gently and walked towards them. "Hatter, do you trust them?"

"I have not had a reason to not trust Miss Dany." Hatter replied.

"And Miss Dany, do you trust these two?" The Queen gestured to Ria and Stayne.

"I am her sister, she must trust me." Ria protested.

"The Red Queen is my sister, and I would not trust her with the life of a rock."

Dani looked over at the Hatter and smiled then looked back at the queen.

"Yes, I have always trusted my sister and always will. And if she trust's Stayne, then so do I." She says stepping in front of Stayne.

Stayne looked down at her then over at Ria while letting out a sign of relief.

"Alright." The Queen smiled. "Then please tell me why you are here."

"They would like to get home." Hatter replied.

"And where is home?" The queen asked.

"Closer to here than it is to the Red Castle." He chuckled lightly.

"We don't know where home is." Ria admitted. "We were hoping you could help."

"We don't know how we ended up here." Dani says looking over at the Hatter than back at the queen.

"They fell into the hole and landed in our world." Stayne said looking over at Ria.

"Not sure where from the sky they came or where to go to send them home." He says.


	8. Chapter 8

**I would like to thank **NorthwesternBaby, ErikFan2237 **for adding my story to their favorites/ alerts. I know this story is taking a while to upload and some chapters are getting shorter but you have to understand that me and the other person writing this do have a life and school. We can't always work on this, I have other stories that I am trying to work on as well so I can't upload this as fast as I would like. **

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><p><strong>Chapter 8<strong>

"I ended up in a chimney." Ria said, hoping that would help.

"Very odd." The queen frowned. "Unfortunately, I do not know how to get you back. However, perhaps something will come up if you help us."

"How so?" Ria frowned.

"You and Stayne know the Red Castle pretty well, I assume. We need to take the crown from my sister. She is destroying the land."

"Woah woah woah! You want us to back there are you insane!" Dani says throwing her hands up.

"There is no way we're going back there; you know how hard it was to get out of there! I'm exhausted and hungry, forget it!" She says turning with her arms crossed.

"Going back there is extremely dangerous and risky, especially for them." Stayne says motioning to Ria and Dani.

"We do not need them back. We need a map." The queen replied. "I assume you know the castle well enough to draw one?" She asked Stayne.

"We know the dungeons." Ria said bitterly.

"Yes, I know every in's and out's of that castle. Every window and every person who is living there with her." Stayne says standing up straight, at attention.

"Are you going to send an army after her? Isn't her army just as big if not bigger because of her followers?" Dani asks looking over at the Queen.

"Yes, her army is very large. She has forced many animals into her service, and because of that I cannot attack her." The Queen frowned. "However, if only a couple people go," here she looked at Stayne and Hatter, "then perhaps they can get by her guards."

"And do what?" Ria asked. "Off with her head?"

"I fear her head is too large to chop off." The Queen grimaced. "No, force her to step down as queen."

Stayne glances over at the Hatter with a sour look then looks back at the Queen. "And how do you suppose we force her to step down as Queen?" He asks, crossing his arms.

"Don't you have an inside man or something that can do the job? I mean sending in these two, the plan won't last." Dani says looking over at the Mad Hatter.

"If I had an inside man, we would not be in this situation at the moment." The Queen replied. Ria was amazed at how calm she remained, despite the trouble everyone was giving her.

"As for your question, you have a sword, do you not?" The Queen looked at Stayne, but sadness showed in her eyes.

"I do not wish to harm her. But she is harming innocents, and we cannot allow her to continue."

Dani mumbled to herself then crossed her arms and looked away. This plan was risky and too dangerous and could only end badly for anyone who agreed to it.

"Yes, I did own a sword and I will take the fall for anything that happens in this plan. I already have too much pain and blood on my hands, one more person won't change anything." Stayne says putting his hand on the handle of his sword that was attached to his hip.

"Wait, there must be a better way." Ria protested. "Don't you have an army?"

"I do, but it is no match for my sister's." The Queen admitted.

"Can't you recruit more people?"

"My army... They are not technically people." The queen bit her lip and looked down.

"More cards?" Ria frowned. "This place is so strange... Can you make more?"

"They are not cards, and I'm afraid not."

"It doesn't matter if they aren't people as long as they are willing to stop her." Dani says stepping forward.

"I know where some are hiding." Stayne said coming forward.

"I was to hunt them out and bring them back to the red castle, if we can find them, they can add more power to your army. Even if it's small, it's still something." He says looking over at Ria.

The queen hesitated, clearly not happy at the thought of fighting. Her pale pace seemed to go even paler.

"If they are not human, can they feel pain?" Ria asked softly.

"Of course. They are alive... In some way." The queen murmured, though in truth she wasn't too sure. Her soldiers had never actually done much fighting.

"But I cannot see any other way, unless you are willing to sneak into the castle."

"No." Ria said firmly before anyone else could reply. "It's too dangerous."

"There is no other way, sometimes all you can do is fight for your freedom. Talking doesn't always work." Dani says, throwing her hands up in defeat.

"She's right, sometimes all you can do is hold your ground and sacrifice what you believe in. If there are some people who are willing to fight, then let them. Everyone knows what will happen if they win or lose." Stayne says.

"You're planning on fighting, aren't you?" Ria sighed and looked up at Stayne.

"He is a warrior. He must fight." Hatter said. "I am a hatter, so I must make hats. You are a woman, so you must-"

"What? Cook and clean?" Ria snapped, turning on the man, then looked back at Stayne. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Cook and clean my ass." Dani says crossing her arms with attitude.

"I'm fighting alongside him, the bitch has it comin'" She says pointing her thumb over to Stayne.

Stayne nods his head with a sigh then looks over at Ria. "I will have to come up with a battle stragedy if you would like to help with that. You are very bright and having someone who is not...like me will help my plan."

Ria couldn't help but blush at being called bright. "If you think I can help in that way, then I will try my best... Though I don't know much about battles or planning them."

"Think like a man." Hatter grinned. "Preferably a simple minded soldier." He glanced at Stayne for a second, then looked down at Dani. "Don't lose that head of yours. I would like to hat it soon."

"If anyone can help me it's you I have faith in you." Stayne says before looking back at the White queen then grabs your hand and walks out of the throne room. "We'll have to find a quiet place to think about this."

"But shouldn't the queen be included. Or The Hatter and Dani?" She asked as she was led out of the throne room.

"I'll tell the plan to them after we create one, if you can't tell they don't like to much. And I don't blame them, but you're different and innocent." Stayne says opening a few doors to look inside them then walks into an empty one with a table and chairs.

"Well why should they trust you even after we come up with a plan?" She questioned as she followed him into the room.

"And I'm not as innocent as I look. I know about fighting and war. My father and brother were in the war. I just... Don't know much about fighting with swords."

"Because anything I come up with will have a better chance than them saying they should talk it out and violence is bad. The Red Queen does not talk with people she deals with violence, there is no other way." He says pulling the chair out of her then sits across from her.

"I've seen." Ria said coldly as she sat down. "But that still doesn't mean they will trust you with a plan. Until a few hours ago, you were the Red Queen's closest companion... Weren't you?" She asked with a curious look at him.

"You are right, hey will never trust me but I'm not asking them to trust me, just to let me come up with a plan that will be have a better chance than anything they come up with." Stayne says as he taps his thumbs rapidly on the table.

"Alright... So where do we start?" She asked as she looked around the room. They did not even have a pen and paper to write their strategy down.

"We should start with the resources we do have, and how many people here are willing to fight." Stayne says taking his gloves off and tosses them on the table in front of him.

"Then we'll have to decide on how we can get the Red Queen out of her castle on onto our level."

"Do you really think she will enter the battle?" Ria asked with a small frown. From what she knew about wars, the leaders always sent troops out to do the dirty work, while they remained safely in their homes.

"If we can provoke her enough, yes she will. She probably won't fight but she will come out of her castle. If we can get her out and take the crown from her, her army will fall and the White Queen can do what she likes with her." Stayne says scratching the heart eye patch over his eye.


	9. Chapter 9

****I would love to thank ****_my-forgotten-rose_**** and everyone else who is still reading my story. This is a short chapter because me and my friend are going to be taking a break for a few weeks to try and finish school. We have finals and projects that have to be finished within the next two weeks and I am struggling with trying to pass 3 of my classes if not more so this semester has been bad for me. ****

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><p><strong>Chapter 9<strong>

Ria frowned at the eye patch, the heart reminding her that he was the Red Queen's man. "Why did you switch sides?" She asked.

"It's clear that you have been on the Red Queen's side for a long time. So why are you fighting for the White Queen now?"

Stayne looked at her as he stopped scratching at his patched then coughed in his hand before trying to change the subject. "Why don't we just discuss the plan? We will have to be smart about this attack because she does have a greater number in man power. But the problem will not be the army, but the secret weapon she has locked up."

Ria scowled and didn't bring it up again, not yet. She was more concerned by the secret weapon Stayne mentioned.

"And what would this secret weapon be?" She asked with a worried look. "Is there any way to beat it?"

Stayne got a sour look on his face as his finer drew on the table in how the plan could go and refused to look up at her. "I forget that you and your sister are not from around here. Everyone else knows what her weapon is and...it is very unlikely we will be able to stop it. That is why I'm hoping we can distract her long enough so she forgets about it."

"And if she does use it?" Ria asked nervously as she began to chew on her lower lip a bad habit she had when he was scared.

"If we stop her, will it also stop her weapon? I mean she must have a way to control it so we can force her to stop it."

"If she does use it, you will have to retreat and I will try to stop it." Stayne says laying his hand on top of hers.

"Once she lets out her weapon, there's not stopping it unless you can kill it. If there is a chance she can stop it, the weapon might go rogue and not listen."

"Can you kill it?" Ria asked softly, though she feared she already knew the answer. If an army couldn't kill it, how could one man?

"We'll need a backup plan, in case you can't kill it."

"I will try and kill the beast before it reaches you and the White Castle. It takes a special sword to kill the beast and that is back at the Red Castle." Stayne says while looking up at her.

"So we need to get it out of the Red Castle... Where in it is it?" Ria asked with a worried look. It was clear this was going to much harder than she had first assumed.

"Going back to the Red castle after escaping the first time is reckless and extremely dangerous. The sword lies in a cage with a wild beast that watches over it, it belongs to...the White Queen actually." Stayne says while dragging off his sentence.

"And you can get past the beast?" She asked hopefully. He used to be the Red Queen's man, so there was a chance that the wild beast would be friendly to him.

Of course, there was an even bigger chance that the beast would be set on him the second anyone saw him.

"I can try and make it past it, if I can run fast I can direct towards the castle and see if I can do damage to it." Stayne says drawing on the table with his finger as he talks. "It will be risky but it will give you a better chance at fighting her army."

"And I suppose there's no simple way out of this." Ria sighed and sat back in her chair. "I'm so sick of people I care about going into war. I can't believe that Dani is even thinking about fighting."

Stayne sat quiet for a few minutes not sure how to respond to that then looks down at his hands. "You're safety means more to me now than my life. I will fight till I am broken."

Ria's eyes went wide and her cheeks turned red. "That's... Very sweet of you. Kind of unexpected, but sweet none the less."

"Well you should not be punished for the war that was started by us. " Stayne says grabbing her hand and holds it in both of his.

Ria's cheeks turned even more red when she looked down at their hands. "How did this war start anyway?"

Stayne let out a deep sigh, hoping she would avoid asking that question. "The Red Queen wanted to rule this land and attacked the White Queen and her people for her crown."

Ria pursed her lips and rolled her eyes. "I figured. I didn't think she would become Queen by the people's choice." Then again, Queens were not elected. The Red Queen could have simply inherited the crown.

Stayne looked down at her lips then looked back up at her. "I've done some terrible things in my life; I wish we could have met under different circumstances."

"You saved me from the Red Queen without even questioning who I was." Ria smiled. "And being tried to a horse is the most adventure I've ever had."

"And now you are in the middle of a war and we still have to try and get you home before anything else happens to you. " Stayne says while shaking his head and looking at the table.

"I've been in the middle of wars before... Well, not the middle, but I've been affected by them. This shouldn't be any different... As long as you don't die." Her voice trailed off and she looked down at the table too.

Stayne looks back up at her and grabs both of her hands in his and pulls her closer. "If you are safe and alive then my death will have meaning. I will do nothing more with my life then to get you home safe."

"But if you die in the field, then you cannot help me get home." Ria said softly. "But I understand that you have to go. My father and brother went... Only my father came home."

"The white queen will get you home, I get you across the war zone. That is the hard part of this battle, after that getting you home will be easy." He says placing their hands on the table.

"And if you survive, what will you do?" Ria asked, then grinned. "You can come back with me. It's clear that you're not really wanted here. Dani's friend didn't seem very pleased with you."

"I do not think your society will accept me either for how I look and such." Stayne says gesturing to all of him then his eye. "I will come with you if that is what you want, you are correct on me not being accept in this place either."

"There are plenty of tall people where I come from. And many men got wounded and scarred in the war." Ria urged him. "You will only look out of place if you keep wearing clothing like that."

Stayne looked down at the outfit he was wearing then looked up at her with a strange look but let it go. "I will have to find new clothes then if we make it out of this place. I will just have to adjust like you have had to do here in my world."

"Your clothing isn't too bad, just too... extravagant." Ria giggled, looking him over. "You need something more plain. Do you have suits here?"

Stayne looked back down at his clothes while pulling on parts of his armor then at his hair. "Suits? Is this not a suit?" he asks looking back up at her then looking over her clothes.

"It's not the type of suit that men where I come from wear." Ria chuckled. "I guess we'll have to find you something when we get back."

Stayne grumbled something under his breath then decided to drop the subject and would deal with it if the time came. "Alright then, that is another milestone we will deal with after we deal with this one. The most important part of this plan is to separate the Red Queen, if we can do that, her army will fall."


	10. Chapter 10

****So the usual list of me thanking people for the alerts and reviews,**** Guest , England101, My forgotten ros (Guest). **Thanks again so much for reading my story and i'm sorry for upsetting you guys in the next note.**

****I need everyone's opinion on whose still reading this, my friend just got a job and I just had a job interview and added 4 more college classes to my schedule. That being said, since this chapter is only like half the length of the usual chapters and it is going to take twice as long to update this site because of our **schedules now, I need to know if everyone is willing to be more patient or if I should just stop updating this site all together. I've actually lost interest in this rp a long time ago, but I do like her side of the story which is this one and I don't want to lose her so thats why I'm still in this rp and still updating. If people are still willing to read this story then when I get the right length of the chapter I will take down chapter 10 and re-upload the rest of it.******

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><p><strong>Chapter 10<strong>

"Got it." Ria nodded firmly. "And will that keep her from using her weapon?" She hoped it would be that simple; after all, Stayne looked like he had been the Queen's only real guard.

"Yes it will stop her, if we separate her; she can't call on her army or her weapon. Then we will have the advantage of taking her crown and giving it back to the White Queen. This will make the army switch sides while keeping the weapon locked up." Stayne says while placing his hands on top of her.

Ria looked down at their hands, then turned hers upside down so she could grab his. "I want to come with you then. You'll have a better chance if you have someone to watch your back."

"No, it is too dangerous, I will not put you in harm's way to make up for the crimes I have committed. You mean too much to me to allow such a reckless idea to commend." Stayne says while shaking his head at her idea.

Her eyes widened slightly, and a small smile twitched on her lips. "I mean a lot to you?" She asked. "When did this start happening? After you slung me across your saddle to bring me back to the Red Queen?"

Stayne felt his face light up and felt the room jump a few degrees before taking his hands away and stands up from the table while coughing in his hand.

"I should tell the White Queen about the plan; you should rest after everything that has happened to you and find a safe place to stay while the fight starts."

"I don't like cowering here while everyone else risks their lives." Ria pouted. "I did that during the war, and I felt terrible the whole time. Why can't I come help you?"

"You are not a fighter; you hands show the proof of that. They are soft and unscratched while mine are worn out and have blood on them." Stayne says while walking over to the door.

"The point of this fight is to send you home; if you die in this war then it will all be for nothing."

"It won't be all for nothing." Ria protested and stood up to follow him to the door. "It will get rid of the Red Queen and give peace to the land. It's more than just for Dani and me."

Stayne looked out the door as he groaned under his breath, watching her follow him from the table.

He should just give up trying to hide her from this war that she clearly wanted to be a part of. "Alright, since I can't seem to persuade you to change your mind."

Ria grinned happily, and without thinking, she wrapped her arms around Stayne in a hug. "Thank you. I'll try my best not to get killed... But you should probably show me where some armor and weapons are."

Stayne felt his body tense up like stone at her touch but then relaxes into the hug and wraps his arms around her smaller body into his.

"That would ease my mind if you could try." He says as he slowly pulls away from her then slides his hand over hers and guides her out of the room towards the armory hall.

She smiled down at their hands again, then back up at his face. "This might be a weird question, but why are you so tall? Are you from a specific race?"

Stayne looks at their hands then up at her question and blinks in confusion. "Men of your home are not this tall?" He asks while looking down at his legs. "Men are supposed to be tall and strong to protect their women. Short and weak will get you nowhere."

"Well, men are generally taller than women, but I don't think I've ever heard of a man as tall as you are. Or, at least not one that's tall and skinny." Ria said. "So are you saying that is natural around here?"

"That is the opposite here, it is strange to find a man not as tall and lean as myself." Stayne says presenting all of himself to her then looks up at her.

"If you are short and large, then you are slow and weak when it comes to battle. There is no use for that here." he says.

"I suppose that makes sense. But considering all our men are roughly around the same height and build, the fighters at least, they're all equal on the battle field. In fact, a taller than average man would probably be targeted."

"Well there is some logic to your reasoning, as always and that does make sense if they are all the same. That would make for a great defense line for protecting someone. And I guess since I am taller than your people I would be a large target." Stayne says while looking down at his tall legs and kicks one outward.

Ria smiled sympathetically and gave his arm a pat. "Well as long as you don't plan on fighting any wars with my people, I think you should be fine. Besides, you have a point. You would be quicker and more graceful, so that could help you."

"I will not start another war with anyone after this battle here is won. There will be no reason to keep fighting anyway after wards." Stayne says while looking down at her as he wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her against his side.


End file.
